Lady Falcons win slow pitch UCT

In a day of extra-inning games and upsets, Ingomar finished on top as the 2010 Union County Tournament champs.

The Lady Falcons battled adversity, starting the day at 0-2. In their opening match-up against Myrtle, Ingomar tied the game only to fall in the final inning, 3-2. The Lady Hawks loaded the bases and scored on an illegal pitch and would also win their second game, 3-2 over New Albany to become one of the early favorites for the title.

Ingomar fell in extra innings of their second game, 11-7, to the Lady Bulldogs. In one of several games that used the International tiebreaker to determine the outcome, the Lady ‘Dawgs scored four runs to pick up their first win of the tournament.

Ingomar’s luck changed in their third game, as they handed East Union their first loss, 4-1.

With the game tied in the fifth inning, East Union intentionally walked Kate Webb, placing runners on first and second for Reid Little. A triple by Little brought in two runs, and Shelly Grisham followed that with an RBI single.

The Lady Urchins were undefeated going into the Ingomar game, needing a win over the Lady Falcons to clinch the tournament title. Heading into the final match-ups of the day, West Union and East Union each had one loss, with the Lady Eagles earning a win over Myrtle to stay alive in the championship hunt. An East Union win against New Albany would give the Lady Urchins their second straight tournament win, while an East Union loss and West Union win over Ingomar would have given the Lady Eagles the title.

“Going into the West Union game, I said ‘two and two would be a lot better than 0-4,’ and I just walked away,” Ingomar head coach Andy Wilbanks said. “Maybe less is more with the speech giving from now on.”

Ingomar scored three runs in the first after loading the bases earlier in the frame. Leah Paige Goolsby brought in the first run for West Union, but Ingomar laid the wood to the Lady Eagles, winning 10-2.

On the opposite field, East Union had their opportunity to take the championship, going ahead of New Albany10-3 after an explosive third inning. Rachel Elder tied the game, and the Lady Urchins loaded the bases and scored seven more runs.

New Albany cut the deficit to four heading into the fourth inning, and with bases loaded, Jalanna Cameron, Ellen Tarrant and Carrie Spencer all brought in runs to tie the game.

Going to extra innings, the Lady Urchins chose to intentionally walk two batters, pitching to Brooke Sides. Sides’ hit gave New Albany the 11-10 win, and each team ended the tournament with a 2-2 record. Based on run differential, Ingomar was awarded the championship, followed by New Albany.

“We did a good job of coming back after those first two games, playing a little bit better,” Wilbanks said. “I felt like we should have won the New Albany game. We had several chances to go 3-1 instead of 2-2. I guess we should divide the trophy up five ways this year, but we’ll take it however we can get it.”

The tough competition between county teams made this one of the more interesting tournaments, and each team will return to their respective division play this week.